“They all come around to our way of doing it,” Gene Simmons told Rolling Stone in Brian Hiatt’s great 2014 cover story on Kiss. “Cherry Garcia, baby. The hippies lost. They really did.”
Simmons, bassist and singer with Kiss, was talking about his band’s career-long exuberance for licensing. Kiss lunchboxes, Kiss dolls, Kiss Koffins, Kiss Kruises and on and on.
As Simmons has previously asserted with pride, “Kiss is a brand, not a band.”
After 50 years of selling Kiss merchandise – not to mention millions and millions of albums and concert tickets – Simmons and Kiss frontman/rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley finally sold the brand itself.
On Thursday it was announced Kiss sold their musical catalog, brand name and intellectual property to Pophouse Entertainment Group for more than $300 million, according to the Associated Press.
Kiss and Pophouse, a Swedish company cofounded by ABBA musician Björn Ulvaeus, have history. The two, along with Industrial Light & Magic, “Star Wars” director George Lucas’ special-effects company, collaborated on the digital avatars that took Kiss’ place at the final show of the band’s latest farewell tour, in December at Madison Square Garden, the storied arena in New York, Kiss’ hometown.
Pophouse CEO Per Sundin told the AP the new $300 million deal will lead to a biopic, documentary and other projects.
“The record companies, the three big ones that are left, they’re doing a fantastic job, but they have so many catalogs and they can’t focus on everything,” Sundin said. “We work together with Universal (Music Group) and Kiss, even though we will own the artists rights, and we’re doing it in conjunction with Kiss. But yes, we bought all rights, and that’s not something I’ve seen that clear before.”
A Kiss avatar tour is planned to launch in 2027 and in North America. Pophouse and ILM previously worked together a digital avatar concert for ABBA in London.
Kiss’ distinctive makeup and costumes -- Simmons’ The Demon, Stanley’s Starchild, original lead guitarist Ace Frehley’s Spaceman, original drummer Peter Criss’ Catman -- are as famous as the band’s hard-rock hits, like “Rock and Roll All Nite.” So, the IP component of the Pophouse deal is particularly intriguing.
Simmons told the AP, “I don’t like the word acquisition. Collaboration is exactly what it’s about. It would be remiss in our inferred fiduciary duty — see what I just did there? — to the thing that we created to abandon it, People might misunderstand and think, ‘OK, now Pophouse is doing that stuff and we’re just in Beverly Hills twiddling our thumbs.’ No, that’s not true. We’re in the trenches with them. We talk all the time. We share ideas. It’s a collaboration. Paul (Stanley) and I especially, with the band, we’ll stay committed to this. It’s our baby.”
The list of famous artists whose music has been sold for megabucks to investors, including private equity firms, seems to grow weekly. Those music stars include Springsteen, Dr. Dre, Sting, Stevie Nicks, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, ZZ Top, David Bowie, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mötley Crüe, Brad Paisley, Shakira, Future and Justin Bieber.
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